Breaking down what makes 2023 Big 12 title race interesting

With less than two months before the 2023 college football season starts, the Big looks like it’s going to be one of the most interesting conferences. A lot of that interest comes down to the conference championship race, which has been full of parity in recent seasons.

As On3’s Andy Staples explained, there are actually a few different reasons why the Big 12 is so interesting.

“This is a fascinating year in the Big 12 because one of the beautiful things about the 10-team Big 12 is it was a full round-robin schedule,” Staples said. “Nobody got to duck anybody else.”

One major factor in the conference for the 2023 season is that there will be four new teams entering the conference. Meanwhile, Texas and Oklahoma are still in the conference for another season, bumping the membership up to 14 teams before it drops to 12 in 2024.

“But now we actually have to talk about who plays whom and when and where. Before, it was just when and where.”

The other key thing, as Staples pointed out, is that there is going to be a lot of motivation for the other Big 12 teams to keep Texas and Oklahoma from winning the Big 12.

“The other piece of this is there is significant motivation for the teams that were left behind in the Big 12, that were ditched by Texas and Oklahoma, to ensure that Texas and Oklahoma do not make their last shot at a Big 12 title game. We’ll see what happens,” Staples said.

“It’s a very diverse group that’s made the Big 12 title game. Remember, it came back in 2017. Seven of the 10 Big 12 teams made the title game. West Virginia, one of the ones that didn’t make it almost made it in 2018, and that is with Oklahoma making it four times and winning it four times after it was reinstated. But the last two years, it’s been new blood, it’s been fascinating. You had the crazy Oklahoma State–Baylor game. You had a great TCU–Kansas State game last year. They would love that again. They would love some mix of those teams in there and not Texas and Oklahoma.”

As of now, Texas is widely considered the favorite to win the Big 12 in 2023. The Longhorns are first in the preseason media poll, having garnered 41 first place votes. Defending conference champion Kansas State is second, with 14 votes. While TCU, who played for a national championship last season, is fifth. Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State also earned at least one first place vote.

Texas not winning the Big 12 would be a failure

As of now, Texas is a big favorite to win its first Big 12 title since 2009. With plenty of talent on the roster, Andy Staples says it would be a failure if the Longhorns don’t win the conference.

“Well I was listening to you misconceptions show from earlier in the week, J.D. [PicKell], and I’ve gotta take issue with one of the things you said. You said if Texas doesn’t have a great, double-digit win season, then it’s still OK. It is not OK,” Staples said.

“They’re going to be favored in 11 of 12 games. Like they should be dominant this season. They should be very good. They should win the Big 12 this season. If they don’t, you’ve got a problem. If they lose to Oklahoma, you’ve got a problem. Because right now, they’re in a better talent-wise, relative to Oklahoma, than they’ve been in years.”